“We wish to establish in the upper and healthier country, and more centrally for the state, a University on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support.”
Thomas Jefferson

History

The University of Virginia, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, is a vigorous, modern institution, animated by the forward-looking spirit of its founder, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s powerful convictions–the idea that the university exists to train young people for public service and the belief that the liberal arts constitute the foundation for any education–continue to inspire its students and faculty and guide the development of its programs.

Jefferson was a man of many talents, and he expressed them fully in founding the University of Virginia in 1819; he outlined the institution’s purpose, designed its buildings, supervised construction, and planned its curriculum. He also directed the recruitment of its initial faculty.

When classes began in 1825, with 68 students and a faculty of eight, the University of Virginia embodied dramatic new ideas in American higher education. In an era when colleges trained scholars for the clergy and academia, Jefferson dedicated his University to the education of citizens in practical affairs and public service. The innovative curriculum permitted the student a broader range of study than was available at other colleges and universities of the day, and Jefferson implemented novel ideas concerning student self-government and religious freedom.

The University Grounds

Jefferson chose an undeveloped plot of land on the edge of Charlottesville on which to locate the University of Virginia. Jefferson was a skillful architect, a consummate builder, and an inveterate tinkerer. His belief in public service, his respect for the achievements of the past, and his sense of balance and proportion are expressed in the buildings he designed for his “academical village.”

This educational community was built around a rectangular, terraced green–the Lawn–flanked by two continuous rows of identical, one-story rooms. These rows are accented by large buildings, the Pavilions, each in a different style. Both the rooms and the Pavilions open onto a colonnaded walkway fronting the Lawn. Behind each of the two rows of buildings are public gardens delineated by serpentine brick walls and backed by yet another set of rooms. The Rotunda, a half-scale model of the Roman Pantheon, closes off one end of the Lawn, while the south end was originally left open to a vista of the mountains.

The genius of Jefferson’s design is that it integrates housing for students and faculty as well as classroom and library space into a single unit. Students lived on the Lawn and in the outer two rows of rooms, known as the Ranges. Faculty members lived in the Pavilions, while the Rotunda held the library and classroom space.

Although the University has grown since Jefferson’s time, the Lawn remains the intellectual and spiritual heart of the Academical Village and serves much of its original purpose. Students who have made special contributions to the University are awarded a Lawn room in their fourth year; senior faculty and their families live in the Pavilions, where classes are also held; and graduate students live in the Ranges. The Rotunda’s oval rooms and the Dome Room are used for meetings of the Board of Visitors, dinners, and other ceremonial occasions, as well as for student activities.

The special grace and character of Jefferson’s design are widely recognized. As Ada Louise Huxtable noted in The New York Times, the University “is probably the single most beautiful and effective architectural group of its kind in the country, or in the history of American building.” In 1976, the American Institute of Architects proclaimed it “the proudest achievement in American architecture in the past 200 years”; in 1987, the Lawn was named to the World Heritage List.

The University Today

Although the University of Virginia has expanded to encompass more than one thousand acres, it still retains the intimacy that characterized the Academical Village. University planners have been careful to preserve open space for study and contemplation while erecting modern facilities for each of the seven undergraduate schools.

Each year, the area attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to see the Grounds of the University, visit the homes of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, tour local wineries, and hike through the Shenandoah National Park, just 20 miles west in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Charlottesville has its own traditions. The community celebrates each spring with a Dogwood Festival and New Year’s Eve with First Night Virginia fireworks and entertainment. Steeplechase fans attend the Foxfield Races, and every spring, runners in the Charlottesville Ten-Miler rush through town toward the finish line at University Hall.

A pedestrian mall downtown offers fine dining, distinctive shops, art galleries, and nightspots in a historical section of the city. In the Court Square area, lawyers and business people occupy offices in buildings dating back to the 1700s. The city is known for its fine restaurants, appealing to every taste and budget, and many establishments present nightly entertainment by local artists. The Virginia Film Festival brings new visitors and celebrities to the area each fall, along with movies, seminars, and premieres. The Virginia Festival of the Book brings poets, writers of non-fiction, and novelists to Charlottesville each spring.

Charlottesville is located 120 miles from Washington, D.C., and 70 miles from Richmond. The Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO), a non-hub, commercial service airport, offers more than 50 daily non-stop flights to and from Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York/LaGuardia, Washington/Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago. . CHO is served by Delta Connection, United Express ,American Eagle, and US Airways Express.Major highways convenient to the city include Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 29. Nationwide bus and railway service for passengers and freight is provided by Greyhound, AMTRAK, Norfolk Southern, and the CSX Corporation. The Charlottesville Area Transit service and the University Transit Service provide bus service on Grounds and around the city, free for University students, faculty, and staff. Visitors to the University are always welcome. On-street parking is limited, so visitors are encouraged to park at the paid hourly Central Grounds Parking Garage off Emmet Street.

Maps of the University are available for visitors at the University’s Visitor/Information Center at 2304 Ivy Road in Charlottesville (follow signs from 29N or Interstate 64 to the University Information Center) and online at www.virginia.edu/Map/. Bulk quantities can be purchased by calling the University Bookstore at (434) 924-3721. Brochures about the Rotunda are available at the Rotunda. Books about Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, and the University of Virginia may be purchased at the University Bookstore, located atop the Central Grounds Parking Garage.

Rankings

U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the University of Virginia as one of the nation’s top institutions. In the 13 years since U.S. News began ranking public universities as a separate category, U.Va. has ranked either No. 1 or No.2. U.Va. remains tied for second among all public universities and is tied for 25th among all universities, both public and private. U.S. News also ranked the McIntire School of Commerce fifth nationally, up one from the previous year.

In the U.S. News graduate rankings for 2012, several U.Va. graduate schools and graduate programs are among the nation’s best. The School of Law led the University’s rankings at No. 10. The law school’s international law program ranked No. 9, and its tax law program ranked No. 9. The School of Medicine was ranked No. 22for research and No. 20 in primary care. The Engineering School came in at No. 39, and its biomedical engineering program ranked No. 19.The Curry School of Education ranked No. 22, and had four programs highlighted: special education (No. 6), secondary education (No. 11), education policy (No. 11) and administration/supervision (No. 12).

In its 2011 rankings Business Week magazine ranked the McIntire School second among the nation’s best undergraduate business programs.

The Princeton Review and USA Today ranked the University first among public institutions in its January 2011 list of “Best Value Colleges” for the third year in a row. U.Va. retained its No. 3 ranking for the fifth time in six years in the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” list, published by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. For the past 16 years, U.Va. has led the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education’s annual rankings of African-American graduation rates.

The Faculty

The University relies on faculty for strong intellectual and creative leadership. The world looks to higher education, with its scholarship, research and innovation, for solutions to the complex issues society faces now and in the future. The research and discovery process, which is central to U.Va.’s educational initiatives, is guided by faculty whose common goal is to add to the store of knowledge and advance the research enterprise, for the benefit of all society.

In 2009–10, the University launched a number of institutes and centers to promote multidisciplinary research and education. The Center on Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness, a joint venture of the Batten and Curry schools, brings together faculty from education, public policy, sociology, economics and law. They will collaborate on research to increase the availability and quality of early childhood education, enhance teacher effectiveness and increase college attendance, particularly among low-income and underrepresented groups. The center director is James Wyckoff, professor of education at the Curry School and an economist noted for educational policy research.

The Asia Institute builds on the University’s substantial resources in Asian studies, which span language studies, the humanities, and the social sciences. The creation of the institute formalizes and unifies existing initiatives that include the activities of the Tibet, East and South Asia Centers, and the Asian Pacific American Studies program.

To develop a long-term plan for multidisciplinary research, the Office of the Vice President for Research has assembled V-RISE (Virginia-Research, Innovation, Science, Engineering). “The University’s long-term investment in the core sciences, in the arts and humanities, in engineering and in medicine and health, is a powerful force for creating positive societal change in Virginia and for the national and global economy,” said Thomas Skalak, vice president for research.

Faculty scholarship and research are shared beyond the University through publishing results in journals and databases, working on joint projects with colleagues at other institutions, serving on national policymaking bodies, forming collaborative partnerships with corporations and other organizations and participating in conferences on public and academic issues.

Martin Wu, assistant professor of biology, is one of the scientists who contributed to the genomic encyclopedia recently established by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute. Bacteria play a fundamental role in everything from human health to the biosphere, yet researchers have sequenced the genomes of just a tiny fraction of the 150 million species. Wu and his colleagues are contributing newly sequenced genomes to this database to create a more balanced catalog of the diversity of genomes present on the planet, which in turn will broaden the study of bacterial life.

Timothy Beatley, the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities in the School of Architecture, has written extensively on sustainability and green cities. He is now turning to film to introduce his ideas to a wider audience. Working with Boulder, Colorado–based filmmaker Chuck Davis, he produced a documentary called The Nature of Cities, which shows how the built environment and nature can work together to sustain and rejuvenate life.

Several faculty members serve on professional boards and policymaking bodies. In May 2010, President Obama appointed John D. Arras, the Porterfield Professor of Biomedical Ethics and professor of philosophy, to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Arras has published extensively on such topics as physician-assisted suicide, the ethical dilemmas raised by public health catastrophes, and the conduct of international drug trials.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius appointed School of Medicine Vice President and Dean Steven T. DeKosky, M.D., to the National Institutes of Health National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NACCAM). Dr. DeKosky led the 2000–08 Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study and studies the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

James Aylor, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Louis T. Rader Professor of Electrical Engineering, was appointed a director on the Engineering Deans Council of the American Society of Engineering Education. The council meets to assess and recommend policies affecting the overall administration of accredited engineering institutions.

Over the past five years, U.Va. researchers have reported the invention of 885 new technologies, 302 of which have been licensed to companies and institutions for further development. The University is now reaching out to other stakeholders to help drive this process of research and development. Construction began in Prince George County on Crosspointe, the largest Rolls-Royce manufacturing facility built from the ground up in the United States. Cross-pointe will house the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a joint research center supported by the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Rolls-Royce. Engineering School research in coatings, corrosion and magnetic bearings will be applied to improve jet engine technology development at the facility.

In Bedford, Virginia, construction is under way on the new Center for Advanced Engineering Research (CAER), which will focus on nuclear energy research and distance education. The engineering school and other collaborators such as nuclear power company AREVA and Virginia Tech proposed the research agenda for the center and sponsored the Center for Safe and Secure Nuclear Energy, to be housed at CAER. The Virginia Tobacco Commission provided $7.6 million to build the facility.

The University hosted its second annual Venture Summit in March 2010, attracting venture capitalists who represent roughly $20 billion in capital. The summit highlighted the need for innovation in such areas as energy, water and mobile information technology. Faculty and students presented their start-up companies, networked and discussed research funding. This event showcases U.Va.’s position as a destination for technology-based ventures and connects investors with researchers who generate innovative ideas for new processes, products and technology.

The appointment of W. Mark Crowell as the first executive director of innovation partnerships underscores the University’s commitment to corporate, private and government partnerships. Crowell, former vice president for business development at the Scripps Research Institute, will build partnerships to enhance licensing, entrepreneurship and commercialization at U.Va.

Kevin Janes, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, received multiple honors this past year. He was one of 55 engineers and scientists to receive a 2009 National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award. And he received a Packard Fellowship, which allows promising professors to pursue science and engineering research early in their careers. Janes uses a systems approach to study the signaling processes within cells, research that could lead to new diagnostic techniques and improved treatments for a variety of cancers.

Assistant Professor Randy Jones, another faculty member at the beginning of his career, received a three-year Nurse Faculty Scholar award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Jones is devising a protocol to help patients with advanced-stage disease make better decisions about treatments that affect their quality of life.

Linda Columbus, assistant professor of chemistry, received a National Institutes of Health grant along with a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award to support her study of the membrane proteins that serve as gatekeepers for cells.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Kamin Whitehouse received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award for a project that will make it easier for scientists and engineers to sense and manipulate the physical world with small wireless devices. This work will enable unprecedented data collection for environmental, agricultural and social sciences. The project’s outcome will be a new software paradigm called Macrolab that will enable hundreds or thousands of sensors and actuators to be programmed and deployed while requiring novice users to write only a few lines of code.

Karen Van Lengen, the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Architecture, was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. Van Lengen, who was the school’s dean from 1999 to 2009, is known for her research on sound, communication and the built environment.

Michael Menaker, Commonwealth Professor of Biology, was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He was cited for his pioneering work on the circadian rhythms that regulate the function of virtually all living things.

The University’s creative writing program has long been considered one of the best in the nation, ranking third among all full-residency programs by Poets & Writers magazine. Deborah Eisenberg, a short-story writer and English professor, was among the 24 creative individuals singled out to receive a 2009 MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called genius grant. The award will allow her to reserve more of her time for writing. Her latest collection of short stories is Twilight of the Superheroes.

Three faculty members were elected this year to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences—John C. Jeffries, Jr., David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law; Dean of the School of Law Paul G. Mahoney, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and the Arnold Leon Professor of Law; and Gerald L. Clore, Commonwealth Professor of Psychology.

David Grissmer and Andrew Mashburn, two research scientists at the Curry School, received a federal stimulus grant distributed by the National Institutes of Health to study the connection between fine motor skills and the development of mathematical skills.

The School of Law received a grant to study recent changes to state mental health law recommended by a commission formed after the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation directed the funds to a team led by Richard Bonnie, the Harrison Foundation Professor of Medicine and Law and the Hunton & Williams Professor of Law. The team’s findings will help improve the implementation and positive impact of the Health Care Decisions Act, and will be disseminated nationally.

In the Engineering School, Sudhanva Gurmuirthi, assistant professor of computer science, joined a multiuniversity team that won a $1 million Google Focused Research Award to conduct research on creating energy-efficient Internet data centers. Without improvements in efficiency, data centers in the United States are expected to consume more than 100 billion kilowatt hours annually in 2011.

Student Achievement

The quality of the student body is evident in numerous ways, including the awards and honors many students receive. The University has graduated 45 Rhodes Scholars, the highest number for state universities nationwide. The University is attracting some of the very best students in the country through the merit-based Jefferson Scholars Program. Jefferson Public Citizens is a comprehensive academic public service program that integrates students’ service and research experiences throughout their time at the University, and opportunities for undergraduate research abound.

Four years at the University prepares students well for becoming adults who are educated citizens and contributing members of society. Whether they go directly to a job (as many do), teach English in a developing country for period of time, enroll in law or medical school (to which University of Virginia students are accepted at well above the national average), or enter graduate school to pursue the scholarly life as a profession, their undergraduate years at Virginia provide the chance to explore subjects and ideas that will lay the foundation for their future careers and lives.

The Honor System

The Honor System is one of the University’s oldest and most venerated traditions. Based on the fundamental assumption that anyone who enrolls at the University subscribes to a code of ethics forbidding lying, cheating, and stealing, the Honor System allows students the kind of personal freedom possible only in an environment where respect and trust are presumed. If a student violates the Honor Code, he or she cannot remain a member of the University community, and is not entitled to receive or hold a degree from the University of Virginia. For more than 160 years this system has been administered by students.

Athletics

A member of the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Conference, Virginia fields 12 intercollegiate sports for men and 13 for women. U.Va.’s intercollegiate athletics program ranked seventh in the final 2010-11 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings, which are based on the combined performance of men’s and women’s sports during the academic year. Virginia is one of just 15 schools to finish in the Top 30 in the Directors’ Cup standings in all 18 years of the program’s existence. U.Va. has ranked in the Top 10 each of the last three years.

Virginia Athletics 2010-11

Virginia had another successful year of athletic competition in 2010-11. Teams or individuals in 21 of Virginia’s 25 sports advanced to postseason competition in 2010-11 highlighted by the men’s lacrosse team winning the 2011 NCAA Championship. It’s the third NCAA Championship for the Virginia athletics program in the last two years. Other top finishes in NCAA postseason competition by U.Va. athletics teams in 2010-11 included program-best finishes of second by the men’s tennis team, a tie for third by the baseball team, fourth by the women’s golf team and eighth by the men’s swimming and diving team. The field hockey team reached the NCAA Tournament’s semifinals for the second consecutive year and the women’s rowing team finished sixth at the NCAA Championships. The men’s tennis team won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Team Indoor Championship for the fourth consecutive year, while the baseball team earned the number one national seed in the NCAA Baseball Championship and participated in the College World Series for the second time in three years. The women’s cross country team won the NCAA Southeast Regional title and the baseball team won both the NCAA Charlottesville Regional and Super Regional.

Virginia won five Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in 2010-11 and has now won 47 ACC Championships in the last nine years, more than any other conference school during that time frame. U.Va. won ACC Championships in baseball (second in the last three years), women’s rowing (11th in 12 years), men’s swimming and diving (fourth consecutive and 12th in the last 13 years), women’s swimming and diving (fourth consecutive) and men’s tennis (fifth consecutive and seventh in the last eight years).

Virginia swimmer Matt McLean won the NCAA Championship in the 500-freestyle and runner Robby Andrews won the 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships after winning that event at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2009-10.

Men’s lacrosse player Steele Stanwick won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation’s top player, baseball pitcher Tyler Wilson received the Lowes Senior CLASS Award as the most outstanding senior student-athlete in Division I baseball and Danny Hultzen of the baseball team received the John Olerud Two-Way Player Award. The men’s tennis team’s Michael Shabaz was the ITA/Farnsworth National Senior Player of the Year, Alex Domijan was the ITA National Rookie of the Year and Sanam Singh received the ITA/Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award.

Ten Virginia student-athletes earned some form of ACC Player of the Year honor in their respective sport in 2010-11. The list includes: McKenzie Adams (volleyball, Freshman of the Year), Alex Domijan (men’s tennis, Freshman of the Year), Sinead Farrelly (women’s soccer, Offensive Player of the Year), Danny Hultzen (baseball, Pitcher of the Year), Ben Kohles (men’s golf, Player of the Year), Anthony Kostelac (indoor and outdoor track and field, Freshman of the Year), Matt McLean (men’s swimming, Swimmer of the Year), Ariana Moorer (women’s basketball, Sixth Player of the Year), Lauren Perdue (women’s swimming, Swimmer of the Year) and Steele Stanwick (men’s lacrosse, Player of the Year). Runner Emil Heineking won his second consecutive ACC men’s cross country individual title.

Four different Virginia coaches earned a total of five ACC Coach of the Year Awards in 2010-11, including Brian O’Connor (baseball), Kevin Sauer (rowing), Mark Bernardino (men’s swimming and women’s swimming) and Brian Boland (men’s tennis). In addition Boland, O’Connor and women’s head tennis coach Mark Guilbeau were named Atlantic Region Coach of the Year in their respective sports, Jason Vigilante was named the Southeast Region Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year and Brian Bailie was recognized as the National Golf Coaches Association Assistant Women’s Coach of the Year.

Men’s lacrosse coach Dom Starsia’s teams have won 329 games during his head coaching career, more than any other Division I head coach. Starsia’s 19 Virginia teams have compiled an overall record of 228-72 and the 2011 championship is the program’s fourth NCAA Championship under Starsia’s guidance.

Debbie Ryan stepped down after 34 years as head women’s basketball coach at U.Va. Her Virginia teams compiled an overall record of 739-324 and participated in the NCAA Tournament 24 times. Ryan’s teams reached the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four three times, the Sweet Sixteen 12 times (including 11 consecutive years from 1987-97), won three Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles and 11 ACC regular-season championships. She is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Joanne Boyle, the head coach at the University of California at Berkeley the last six years, is Virginia’s new women’s head basketball coach. Boyle’s California teams compiled an overall record of 137-64 and participated in postseason play each season (four NCAA Tournament appearances, two WNIT). In nine years as a collegiate head coach, including three years at Richmond, her teams have compiled an overall record of 204-93 and participated in postseason play every year.

Virginia’s intercollegiate athletics teams won 66 percent of their contests in 2010-11 to win the annual Virginia Sports Information Directors Association Division I All-Sports Championship for the fourth consecutive year and sixth time in the last eight years. U.Va.’s teams compiled an overall record of 286-146-5 (.660 winning percentage).

Academics

U.Va. had 250 student-athletes named to the 2010-11 Atlantic Coast Conference Honor Roll. The Honor Roll comprises those student-athletes who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year.

Virginia’s graduation rate for student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility remains high. Since the NCAA has been publishing institutional rates, those individuals who exhausted their eligibility at Virginia graduated at a rate of 93 percent.

Three Virginia athletics teams received public recognition awards for achieving Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores in the top 10 percent of their respective sports. The teams were baseball, women’s indoor track and field, and women’s outdoor track and field.

Virginia’s Sarah Borchelt was named the ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for rowing and baseball player Danny Hultzen was a Capital One First-Team Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

University and Community Arts

The University contributes to Charlottesville’s lively arts scene with a wide range of events sponsored by academic departments and student groups. Music events include concerts by faculty and student groups and performances and master classes by visiting artists. The John Paul Jones Arena has hosted performances by Dave Matthews Band, Kenny Chesney, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake, Cirque du Soleil, Jimmy Buffett and many others in just three years of operation. The University’s Art Museum houses broad-ranging art collections that are supplemented by frequent visiting shows. The museum sponsors public talks and receptions and conducts an outreach program for K-12 students. Ruffin Hall, the studio art building, features student and faculty shows, and the art department sponsors public talks as well. The drama department presents productions year-round in the Culbreth and Helms theatres, including drama, musicals, small workshop productions and dance performances. Every fall, the Virginia Film Festival sponsors movie premieres and classics and discussions by actors, directors, producers and academics, all surrounding a theme that changes annually.

The University of Virginia Library

The University of Virginia libraries play an integral role in the University’s ability to maintain its standing as a top-ranked public institution of higher education. Fourteen libraries serve the University’s undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. They house more than 5 million books and receive 97,800 periodicals and newspapers from around the world. The general library collections in the social sciences and humanities are in Alderman Library, together with the library’s depository collections of state, federal, and international documents. The University’s world-renowned collection of manuscripts and rare books is in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Public programs and exhibits are in the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture. The Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library and its satellites (Astronomy, Biology/Psychology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics) serve the research needs of the University’s scientific community. Additional subject collections and services are offered by librarians in the Curry School of Education, the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library and the Music Library. Clemons Library provides a general collection of popular materials, reserve reading, and, in the Robertson Media Center, video and audio resources. The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, the Camp Library in the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, and the Arthur J. Morris Law Library serve the University’s professional schools.

Libraries at the University of Virginia are committed to providing cutting-edge access to information through technology. The online catalog of the collections and online access to newspaper and journal articles are available in all library locations and may also be accessed from home and office computers via the library’s website at www.lib.virginia.edu. Digital labs in Alderman, Clemons, and Brown offer library users assistance with multi-media technologies such as digitizing images and text, combining sound and video for multimedia presentations, and data analysis and GIS applications. User education programs assist the University community in expanding its information literacy.

Information Technology Services Facilities

Information Technology Services (ITS) (www.its.virginia.edu) provides a full range of central information technology services for most sections of the University, as well as the networking backbone services and telephone system for the entire University; ITS supports U.Va.’s instructional, research, and administrative activities by facilitating communication and transmission of information for all University departments.

ITS provides services to faculty, staff, and students including: access to the Internet and the U.Va. network; centralized email, calendaring, file storage, and other computing accounts; UVaCollab, the online course management and collaboration system; the UVa Hive, a virtualized software delivery system; general-purpose UNIX servers and high-performance computing clusters for support of computational research; and Web servers supporting user-published content. ITS also supports the Integrated System for Finance, Human Resources, and Student Information.

Collaboration spaces in many University buildings include features such as comfortable chairs, wireless/wired Internet access, multiple power outlets, and loaner computing accessories to enhance collaborations; one public computing lab located on Grounds offers access to specialized academic software packages that are not available virtually. For-fee printing around Grounds is provided by Printing and Copying Services. Wireless access is provided in the majority of student residence complexes, in the libraries, on the Lawn, and in most classrooms. Most student housing is also hardwired for Internet access.

Faculty, staff, and students may download software, most at no cost, including licensed, self-updating antivirus software, from its.virginia.edu/central. Undergraduate and graduate students may also purchase the latest version of the Microsoft Office® suite and Windows operating system at a substantial savings through U.Va.’s Campus Agreement with Microsoft (its.virginia.edu/software/mslicenses/).

The U.Va. Help Desk (434-924-HELP; its.virginia.edu/helpdesk/) is the primary source of technical computing support and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Additional information about services provided by ITS, along with training and documentation, may be found on ITSWeb (its.virginia.edu/services).

Research

Noted for its world-class research capabilities, the University of Virginia is engaged in a wide range of research in medicine, engineering, and the arts and sciences. Cutting-edge research and scholarship by the University’s outstanding faculty bring opportunities to learn about the latest advances in the classroom as well as the ability to become involved in research work in many fields.

Research is an integral part of the educational process at the University. Opportunities to participate in research are available for both graduates and undergraduates and may result in published papers for graduate and some undergraduate students.

Since 1946, students and faculty of the University of Virginia have benefited from its membership in Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), a consortium of colleges and universities and a management and operating contractor for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, undergraduates, graduates, postgraduates, and faculty enjoy access to a multitude of opportunities for study and research. Students can participate in programs covering a wide variety of disciplines including business, earth sciences, biomedical sciences, nuclear chemistry, and mathematics.

A distinct feature of the University’s research community is the extent to which it fosters interdisciplinary research. A number of research centers and institutes have been established in recent years to facilitate collaboration among faculty from different academic units who have common research interests and objectives. One outcome of this interdisciplinary emphasis has been the growth of joint academic programs leading to joint degrees.

Exciting research is undertaken jointly by faculty from both engineering and medicine in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Program in Engineering Physics. Other engineering faculty members have research ties with faculty in environmental sciences, physics, and other fields. Faculty in medicine and biology work closely on a variety of research projects, as do those in physics and chemistry.

Research collaborations are common among non-scientists as well. Faculty members from the schools of law and business have launched a center jointly with faculty in psychology. Professors in business and various humanities departments bring their separate viewpoints and research strategies to bear on common issues. Interdisciplinary research provides opportunities for shared use of facilities and for synergism in research efforts and augmented funding.

In fiscal year 2009-2010, research at the University was supported by over 2026 separate awards totaling over $375 million dollars from federal and state agencies, industry, and foundations. This represents an increase of over 67% from ten years ago , and reflects the University’s growing research stature and prominence.

The University demonstrates its commitment to research by providing internal financial funding in certain circumstances. The University provides funding for particularly meritorious research which might otherwise have brief funding interruptions, thus maintaining continuity in important, ongoing projects. Through the Bankard Foundation endowment, year-long research grants support research in political economy. Another program provides grants for faculty research in the humanities and social sciences.

The knowledge being disseminated and the technology being developed today at the University of Virginia will play a vital role in how we live in the future. More detailed information about research and funding at the University is available online from the Office of the Vice President for Research, www.virginia.edu/vpr.

Graduate Studies

The University offers graduate and first-professional degrees through ten of its 11 schools. Of the 21,000 students enrolled at the University, almost 6,600 are students in a graduate or first-professional (law and medicine) degree program. UVa offers 84 master’s degrees in 67 fields, 57 doctoral degrees in 55 fields, six education specialist degrees, and first-professional degrees in law and medicine. UVa is one of the top universities in the nation, ranked twenty-fifth overall - and second among public institutions - by U.S. News & World Report and with 38 fields, departments, or schools ranked in the top 25 for graduate study. In 2009, the University conferred more than 1,700 master’s degrees, 350 doctoral degrees, and more than 500 first-professional degrees.

The University places a high premium on collaborative, cross-border, and inter- and multi-disciplinary inquiry, scholarship, and research. Through centers and programs like the Morphogenesis and Regenerative Medicine Institute, the Institute on Aging, and the nanoSTAR Institute, to name a few, graduate students and faculty from across the institution are bringing their respective expertise to bear on the complex questions facing society.

The University recently demonstrated its ongoing commitment to graduate studies by announcing its intention to build an endowment for graduate education as part of its current capital campaign. In addition, numerous programs have been developed to encourage an outstanding and diverse graduate student body, including the Fellowship Enhancement for Outstanding Doctoral Candidates, which offers a three-year $10,000 stipend supplement - on top of a department’s support package - to outstanding doctoral applicants. The University also recognizes superior original scholarship and research among graduate students with the Awards for Excellence in Scholarship.

In 2005, the University’s board of visitors allocated resources to create Graduate Student Diversity Programs within the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR). This unit exists to enhance the diversity of the graduate student population, create a culture of support, and serve as a resource for administration, faculty, staff, and graduate students on matters of diversity. In addition, the office coordinates recruitment and retention efforts across the University’s ten graduate and first professional schools, supports graduate student organizations, and serves as a liaison between UVa and minority-serving institutions. In 2007, the University’s commitment to graduate student diversity was recognized when it received the Council of Graduate Schools/Peterson’s Award for Innovation in Promoting an Inclusive Graduate Community.

The University is also committed to the professional development of its graduate students. It seeks to assist graduate students with decision-making and planning for career pursuits within and beyond academe by providing advising services, workshops and other programs, and referrals to up-to-date electronic and print resources. Through the Teaching Resource Center, the University also supports Tomorrow’s Professor Today (TPT). Designed to facilitate the transition from student to academic professional, the TPT program focuses on improving preparedness in three key areas-teaching, professional development, and adjustment to a university career.

Public Service and Engagement

The University of Virginia’s mission extends beyond the lives of its students, faculty, and staff to the surrounding community, the Commonwealth, the nation, and the world. From professional development for elementary and secondary school teachers to leadership training for local governing bodies across Virginia, the University is committed to sharing its resources of expertise and scholarship in ways that improve the well-being of individuals and communities. OutreachVirginia ( www.virginia.edu/outreachvirginia), an interactive, searchable database and web site, provides extensive information on more than 480 University public service programs.

Through a bachelor’s degree program designed specifically for part-time, adult students in Central, Northern, and Eastern Virginia and educational seminars, short courses, and graduate degree programs offered through regional centers across the state, the University continues to expand access to higher education while maintaining its tradition of academic excellence. Telemedicine programs and screening clinics provide residents in rural areas of the Commonwealth with access to both basic and specialized health care. Mentoring and tutoring programs help local area youth to achieve more through educational opportunities. Programs in all of the schools reflect a similar dedication to enhancing the quality of public life in Virginia and beyond.

Students, faculty, and staff exemplify the institution’s commitment to service. In 2010-2011, over 3,300 students volunteered each week during the regular academic session, giving over 110,000 hours of their time, representing 2.2 million dollars of service. Over 1,100 UVa employees contributed hours of service through the 2010 United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring, a community-wide effort to foster volunteer service in Charlottesville and surrounding counties. In 2010, over 3,300 staff and faculty contributed more than $891,000 to the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign to support charitable organizations in the Commonwealth and around the world. For the past four years, the Corporation for National and Community Service has named the University of Virginia to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. Through the Jefferson Public Citizens program, over 80 students completed local or international academic public service projects spanning six different countries.

Additional information about public service and outreach initiatives and community relations at the University of Virginia is available by contacting a member of the Community Engagement Network: http:// www.virginia.edu/provost/public/cen.html.

Accreditation

The University of Virginia was chartered by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1819 and is one of a select group of 62 American and Canadian universities chosen for membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. The University of Virginia is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate, graduate, first professional, and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033 or call 404-679-4558 for questions about the accreditation of the University of Virginia.

Professional degree programs at the University of Virginia hold the following accreditations. The Master of Landscape Architecture is accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board. The Master of Architecture is accredited by the National Architectural Accreditation Board. The Urban and Environmental Planning degree program is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. The following Curry School of Education programs are accredited by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council: Teacher Education, Administration and Supervision, and Reading. In addition, individual program specializations within the Curry School are accredited by such organizations as the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, and the American Psychological Association. The undergraduate and graduate programs in Business and in Accounting at the McIntire School of Commerce and the MBA program in the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The School of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association. The following Bachelor of Science degree programs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science are accredited by American Board for Engineering and Technology : Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Systems Engineering. The School of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and the Virginia State Board of Nursing. The M.D. degree in the School of Medicine is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (representing the American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges). The Masters of Public Health is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.